Fox News Channel is an Islamophobic media source that clearly demonstrated their bigoted sentiment towards Muslims with a recent interview of Reza Aslan.
On Friday, Fox News religion correspondent Lauren Green had the effrontery to open an interview with Reza Aslan, a historian and PhD professor of religion and author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, by asking, "you're a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?"
Forced to defend his vast erudition, Aslan responded by reminding Green that he is "a scholar of religions with four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades, who also just happens to be a Muslim."
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Green dismissed his academic background and interrupted him with "it still begs the question: why would you be interested in the founder of Christianity?" Aslan remained imperturbable and responded by saying, "because it's my job as an academic. I am a professor of religion including the New Testament. That's what I do for a living actually."
Green's questioning demonstrated Fox News Channel's implacable nature toward Muslims. Her obstinate effort to disclaim Aslan's credentials as a writer was embarrassing. Frankly, if Green were interviewing a non-Muslim individual who wrote a book about Islam she would not question their qualifications based on their religious preference.
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In numerous Fox interviews of Steven Emerson, an American journalist and so-called pundit on Islamic extremism, not once did they ask him to apprise the viewers of his credentials or imply that not being a Muslim somehow disqualifies him from writing on Islam. Apparently an M.A. in sociology makes Emerson a certified expert on Muslims.
The tacit supposition is that being a Muslim — despite having four degrees including a PhD in religion — somehow negates a scholar's ability to engage in an academic work about Jesus, peace be upon him.
Most Muslims in America are inured to Fox News' Islamophobic rhetoric by now. This wouldn't be the first time Fox demonstrated its bigoted opinions of Islam and Muslims. Their opinions were especially apparent following the Boston Marathon bombings. Green's daunting and disingenuous interview provides a mere glimpse into Fox New Channel's Islamophobic coverage.
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This interview goes well with several other incidents of attacks on Islam and Muslims like Fox Host Sean Hannity's claim that using a Quran for the swearing ceremony of Rep. Keith Ellison (DFL-Minn.) "will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones" and is commensurate to using "Hitler's Mein Kampf, which is the Nazi bible."
And non of us will forget Fox's perennial claim that President Obama is a Muslim, with Eric Bolling, Fox News commentator, advancing this myth by stating that the Obama administration "answers to the Quran first and to the Constitution second." Of course, the implication here is that being a Muslim is the worst characteristic a political leader can embody. The icing on Fox News' bigoted crap cake would have to be when host Brian Kilmeade said, "not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims."
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These are only a few examples of Fox News Channel's Islamophobic rhetoric. Unfortunately, Fox's biased coverage will be swallowed by millions of insular viewers who have been indoctrinated by their broadcasting. This perpetuates increased hate and intolerance of Muslims in America, which is why it is extremely significant that disinterested and veracious media coverage — something that is so scarce today — must be demanded.
Journalistic integrity is completely dead at Fox. However, it isn't too late to attempt to revive other media sources and create new ones in an effort to produce a society with unbiased media so that every citizen can make their own decisions on momentous issues instead of being force-fed garbage.
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